Marvelous Mérida

The next stop on our winter escape from the Portland rain was the city of Mérida. Mérida is in the Northern Yucatan about a half hour from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. We used Mérida as a base to visit several other sites in the area but also thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.

Palacio Municipal de Mérida

Mérida is the capital of the state of Yucatan and the 11th largest city in Mexico with a population of around 900,000 people and 1.3 million in the metropolitan area.

The Plaza Grande with the Palacio Municipal de Mérida in the background.

Mérida draws a lot of ex-pats from the US and Canada due to its warm weather and quality of life.

Monumento a La Patria

Mérida is one of the safest cities on the North American continent and its mix of Mayan, Spanish and African cultures allowed it to become the first city to be twice named an American Capital of Culture. 

The city was founded in 1542 by Francisco de Montejo on the remains of a Mayan city and the main “Champs-Élysées” inspired avenue of Paseo de Montejo bears his name. 

The tree lined Paseo de Montejo closed to cars on Sunday morning bike day .

In the mid-19th century, Mérida was one of the world’s most important centers of the henequen trade, an agave species that was a very important raw material for the textile industry. This “green gold” led to tremendous wealth in the region.

The “green gold” that gave Merida is wealth during colonial times.

That wealth resulted in beautiful colonial homes being built along the main avenue of Paseo de Montejo. Alas, with the invention of nylon, the henequen companies began to go bankrupt and the economy of Mérida collapsed.

Now many of the stately colonial homes have been taken over by various businesses including Starbucks. 

Merida's Colonial Homes - click on an image to enlarge

Mérida has some beautiful churches and some very nice plazas. There were several free concerts and other entertainment happening during the week that we were there.

Parroquia Santa Ana

The Cathedral of San Ildefonso, located in front of the Plaza Grande (the city’s main square) was built with stones from adjacent Mayan ruins and is the oldest church on mainland America.

A light show against the façade of the Cathedral of San Ildefonso

The interior of the Cathedral of San Ildefonso

We enjoyed music at a couple of spots including a nice jazz club that was playing zydeco music that evening.

On another evening we watched some traditional dancing, singing, and a group of four guitars playing Mexican music.

Merida is also know for its abundance of great restaurants – many of them outdoors.

Julia was happy she chose the small margarita.

Merida and the various side trips was a nice follow-up in contrast to our laid back time in Isla Holbox.

The weather remained quite warm with an occasional thunder shower that always seemed to quickly move on.

The Plaza Grande with the Cathedral of San Ildefonso in the background.